Order intake across Scotland\u2019s engineering and manufacturing sector has turned positive during the first quarter of 2026, after six consecutive negative quarters \u2014 with a swing of -18% to +6%.<\/p>\n
As orders drive output, this was reflected in recovery for this measure to +13% from -15% last quarter \u2014 a 28% turnaround. Capacity utilisation also recorded a strong rebound, to +17%.<\/p>\n
The recovery was primarily driven by medium and large companies, while small companies remained negative across orders and output. Plant &and machinery and fabricators continued to register softer results, against the broader improvement in manufacturing and precision engineering.<\/p>\n
The latest figures from industry body Scottish Engineering showed that optimism was again positive during this quarter, with training investment recording the most positive level of recent quarters, at 25% increased intent across almost all company sizes and sub-sectors.<\/p>\n
Chief executive Paul Sheerin said that the first quarterly review contains some genuine reasons for optimism.<\/p>\n
“It’s especially welcome to see the positive optimism amplified in the most important metric for our industry’s future – and highest level index for this quarter: training investment.<\/p>\n
“On the eve of Scotland’s Apprenticeship Week, the value of those training pathways are underlined by this survey’s return that almost 40% of businesses identified up-skilling and re-skilling as their most important talent strategy, a chance to remind ourselves that modern and graduate apprenticeships are equally well matched to embedding new skills in our current workforce every bit as much as school leavers.”<\/p>\n
When asked to best describe their current talent strategy, 37% of companies responded with up-skilling or re-skilling their existing workforce. Conversely, less than 20% have prioritised recruiting from the skills talent pool.<\/p>\n
A further 24% of companies reported prioritising modern apprenticeships, with an additional 6% focusing on graduate apprentices. The percentage of over 25 year-olds who began a modern apprenticeship increased in the third quarter last year, from 38.6% to 40.6%, with the remaining starters aged 16 to 24 years.<\/p>\n
The research also revealed that 12% of companies expect to add team members due to planned growth this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sentiment also positive among companies on recruiting and training staff this year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782,127720],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-2388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-skills","tag-featured-story","tag-scotland"],"yoast_head":"\n